The Latest: Hospital bars mental health contractor

BOSTON (AP) — The Latest on the stabbing attacks at a Massachusetts shopping mall and home (all times local):

3:44 p.m.

A hospital that treated a man who fatally stabbed two people at a home and mall and wounded several others says it has barred from the hospital a state contractor that provides mental health evaluations.

In a letter to state officials Thursday, Morton Hospital said Norton Emergency Services was putting patients at risk by not providing "critical and timely services."

The hospital did not refer directly to the case of Arthur DaRosa, whose family said he had been battling mental illness in recent months and checked himself in to the hospital on Monday evening. He was released Tuesday morning and hours later fatally stabbed an 80-year-old woman and a 56-year-old man in Taunton before being shot dead by an off-duty sheriff's deputy.

A message left with a spokeswoman for Norton Emergency Services was not immediately returned.

State officials are reviewing the case.

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9:50 a.m.

The Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services says it will carefully review the case of a man who fatally stabbed two people and injured several others just hours after he was released from a hospital.

Morton Hospital in Taunton says state policy that governs the way it handles psychiatric patients is "misguided."

The family of Arthur DaRosa says he was depressed and suicidal when he was admitted to the hospital Monday. He was released Tuesday morning and that evening fatally stabbed an 80-year-old woman in her home and a 56-year-old teacher dining at a mall with his wife.

A spokeswoman for the state office of Health and Human Services says the agency was saddened by the tragedy and will cooperate with law enforcement.

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8 a.m.

The Massachusetts hospital under scrutiny for releasing a man who hours later fatally stabbed two people and injured several others says state policy that governs the way it handles psychiatric patients is "misguided."

The family of Arthur DaRosa says he was depressed and suicidal when he was admitted to Morton Hospital in Taunton on Monday. He was released Tuesday morning and that evening fatally stabbed an 80-year-old woman in her home and a 56-year-old teacher dining out with his wife.

Morton spokeswoman Julie Masci said in a statement the hospital is barred by federal law from acknowledging patient names or disclosing patient information.

The statement said the "current policy mandating that the evaluation process must be carried out by a third party state contractor is misguided," and if the state-contracted agency responsible for conducting evaluations had requested admission to a psychiatric bed, there were beds available.